The present invention relates generally to image processing systems and, more particularly, to methods and systems for determining object layouts in, e.g., materials to be printed.
Variable data printing (VDP) techniques have become more popular in recent years with the advent of digital press technologies which enable the printing of, for example, highly personalized marketing materials. One task associated with VDP applications is generating an object layout, e.g., selecting the positions and sizes of individual content elements on the pages to be printed. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, determining the size and position of the text string 100 within a background image 110 is a part of the object layout process.
Generating object layouts has traditionally been a manual operation. However, to continue the trend associated with automating image processing techniques generally, it would be desirable to provide systems and methods which automate generating object layouts as part of, for example, a VDP application. One technique for automating object layout generation is to use a single template which forces each object to be positioned and sized in a predetermined way. For example, referring again to FIG. 1, this object layout could be used as a template with the text string 100 being positioned at the same position shown relative to background image 110 for each printing run. While this approach may work well when the variable data being printed is constrained to be of a certain type, e.g., if text string 100 is constrained to be names and addresses, it lacks sufficient flexibility to more generically handle variable data printing tasks in which the number and types of objects, as well as the background, vary more significantly.